A tour of the loveliest private cottage and garden, and photo challenges.

Come with me for a tour of my friend Susanna’s Tudor cottage and garden.

When I think of an English home, this is what I think of. I could even say this home and garden is an English Masterpiece. 🙂

There is oh so much Activity in Susanna’s garden.

Isn’t the thatched roof just so traditional? The only thing which would scare me from a thatched roof cottage is the risk of fire. But apparently the chimneys are different. Apparently they have some built in feature which prevents sparks from going up and landing on the roof.

And that’s a really good thing because Susanna has an extremely cozy sitting room with a lovely inglenook and wood burning stove for those winter evenings.

The cottage is light and charming and the heavy oak beams that hold up ceilings and walls are kept exposed for a traditional Tudor feeling.

Susanna has grown white and deep purple sweet peas this year and has jars and vases full of them all over the house. Don’t you love the smell of sweet peas? I do. And isn’t it lovely that you HAVE to pick them all summer?

In the back garden, just past the conservatory, is a lovely place to sit and have summer lunches and suppers. She even has a few of the best led grow lights in the cellar for her indoor plants. Its a countryside hobby.

Susanna has planted beautiful perennials on either side of the lawn and the garden moves up in three tiers.

There are charming brick steps and a pergola past the perennial borders which leads to the vegetable garden.

The colour combinations are spectacular.

At the end of the garden, beyond the raised vegetable beds is a surprise.

It’s Susanna’s lovely art studio.

At first glimpse you see shelves of books…

…but walk inside and turn the corner. Look at this spectacular studio! Susanna painted these lovely paintings in watercolour.

Here are some views: Looking up to the studio top left and right: up a pergola walk along the beech hedge, the front porch of the studio. And looking down from the porch of the studio bottom left and right are the raised vegetable beds.

Along one side of the garden, in front of the beech hedge, is a potting shed.

There is a pebble walk in front of the potting shed which heats up in the summer making it a perfect micro-climate for heat loving plants.

The inside of the potting shed.

Susanna’s placed a small collection of green bottles on the potting shed window ledge so they can shimmer in the sun.

There are bees and butterflies everywhere making the most of the short English summer.

I hope you find as much inspiration as I did in Susanna’s garden, and I’d like to send a great big hug and thank you to Susanna for letting us in. 🙂